Hi, my name is Mikita. I wanted to get into the Cassette tape properly and got myself a derelict deck for 10$ hoping for an easy belt swap. Alas it's never that simple. Sony TC w320 Replacing belts one of the decks refuses to play blank tapes, but works fine if tape with a pre recorded tape. Likely a leaf switch fail. Deck B sometimes comes to life with a blank but then after minutes or seconds shuts down and disengages with a tape inside, behaving as if there is no tape in the well. Holding 2 leaf switches out of 3 _-- makes the deck work. Holding all 3 --- or having a blank tape with protection notches makes the deck not work. Taped over notch wont play. Hole side will play. Now as a member of the forum im seeking advice and hope to post more about my success on the repair and future mixtapes and tape collection progress.
I'd check the switches for power with a multimeter. These things sit, sometimes in moist basements and the switches will build up corrosion. You may already know but sometimes we get members with zero experience. Anyway, welcome to the forum! Good luck with your repair, it looks like an easier unit to start with.